In my first contact with EasyLinux v1.2, which I received as
the manager of LinuxGO, a Brazilian user group, I thought it was
just another Linux distribution. In spite of some bugs, it was a
very good-looking distribution. In the new EasyLinux v2000, it
proves to be a really stable and competitive Linux desktop
distribution.

Setup and Installation

EasyLinux, developed by Easy Information Technology, has as
its main goal an easy way to install Linux. It doesn't specify any
minimum requirements, but I tried it on two machines, a Pentium
133MHz with 16MB RAM and a 1GB hard drive; and a Pentium MMX 233
with 32MB RAM and a 1GB hard drive. On the first machine, the
installation was very slow and the final results weren't good. The
opposite occurred with the second machine; the speed and ease of
installation were much better. The user can choose either a boot
diskette made with rawrite or a bootable CD. With the use of Frame
Buffer, Vesa2.0, which is supported by most video cards, can
provide a very impressive graphical installation, superior to Red
Hat's and even better than Caldera's. This also makes it possible
for any MS Windows user to use EasyLinux. It offers three different
installation modes:

Beginner: for new users who can choose between an
Internet or a stand-alone PC

Advanced: for users who know more about networking
and may want a LAN client

Professional: in this option, the user can also
choose between a LAN client and a server.

All three modes, except the LAN server option, can also be
used in another category called Laptop, designed specifically for
those who want to install EasyLinux on laptops. Each mode has a
basic packet installation and is supplied with the common
applications. All new applications such as StarOffice, games,
editors and compilers, are available to the user after the
installation is complete just by clicking the CD-ROM icon on the
desktop.

Configuring the System

With the intention of minimizing use of the terminal command
line, EasyLinux built a set of applications to help the user
administer the system: eLILO, eFdisk, ePrinter and eHelpAgent (see
Figure 3). Two items are worth special note: eRegistry and
eHelpAgent.

Figure 3. Administration
Applications

The eRegistry application, or Regedit (see Figure 1), has
nothing to do with the MS Regedit. On the contrary, it is just a
system configuration application that is very useful in configuring
some important system items.

Figure 1. Regedit

eHelpAgent is another important application, because it can
show information on the most common problems that may occur during
the system's use. The System Window (see Figure 2) is another great
aspect of EasyLinux, which acts like MS Control-Panel and gathers
together all system configuration applications such as ePrinter,
Hardware Setup and User Manager to simplify the config task.

Figure 2. The System Window

Pros and Cons

As a self-proclaimed desktop Linux distribution, EasyLinux
succeeds. It is really a robust operating system, very easy to
install and configure, and designed for the user who likes GUI and
doesn't know or doesn't want to know about console, terminal or any
kind of command-line option. One benefit of EasyLinux is that it
uses the .RPM (Red Hat Packet Manager) format for its packets,
which provides an easier way to upgrade and install new packets.
Another good point is that it is completely based on the KDE Window
Manager. As I said before, there are three different installation
modes, and although the results are surprisingly good in all modes,
I didn't like the LAN server mode and imagine most current
administrators wouldn't like it either. The reason is simple: as
system administrators, we need the freedom to configure our systems
in the way we need and like, but with EasyLinux, we are dependent
on the GUI and its applications. As stated on the site, EasyLinux
“concentrates on those users who want to apply Linux as a desktop
workstation or as a PC (of course working with the shell is still
possible).” In this aspect, it is very well done.